Harvard Beats Cornell, Remains Perfect in League Play

Photo by DSPics.com

Boxscore

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Junior forward Sarah Vaillancourt scored a goal and added two assists, as No. 3 Harvard remained perfect in conference play with a 4-1 victory over Cornell on Friday evening at Bright Hockey Center.

After hitting two posts in the opening minutes, the Crimson (12-1-0, 10-0-0 ECAC) found the back of the net midway through the first period, as freshman Kate Buesser grabbed a loose puck in the slot and scored an unassisted chance at 10:53.

Early in the second period, freshman Katharine Chute played the puck in the neutral zone, and flipped to Vaillancourt, who then sped down the left side. Vaillancourt moved to the right and rifled a shot past Cornell goalkeeper Jenny Niesluchowski for the 150th point of the forward's career. Vaillancourt added two assists later in the game, and now has 152 career points (65-87-152), placing her seventh on the all-time Harvard list.

With the three-point effort, she extends her point-scoring streak to 13 consecutive games to start the season. Vaillancourt has ten points in her last two games against Cornell, as she scored five tallies and assisted on two scores in the last matchup between the schools (Feb. 9, 2007).

Harvard increased its advantage to 3-0 after senior captain Caitlin Cahow scored on the power play at 10:03 of the second period. The defenseman found the puck in front of the net from passes by Vaillancourt and junior Jenny Brine and fired for her sixth goal of the year.

Cornell (7-5-1, 4-2-1) scored four seconds into a power play at 10:24 of the third, after sophomore Kathryn Farni was called for hooking. Laura Danforth capitalized, and was assisted by Melanie Jue and Karlee Overguard.

Brine gave the Crimson some insurance six minutes later on the second Harvard goal with an extra attacker. Vaillancourt and Cahow set up the play and were credited with assists on the goal.

Sophomore goalkeeper Christina Kessler made 19 saves in net for the Crimson and improves to 11-1-0 this season. Niesluchowski stopped 30 pucks for the Big Red and falls to 3-4-0.

Harvard out shot Cornell, 38-20, and was 2 of 4 on the power play. The Big Red was 1 of 1 with the extra attacker.

The victory was Harvard's 14th in the last 15 games against Cornell, dating back to the 1997-98 campaign.